An electric body battery which consists of a belt (a) made out of cloth, purple velvet, and leather with three metal discs and positive and negative conductors; there are two attachments, the first (b) is a wire loop that is meant to hang from the front of the belt to loop around the genitals, the …
An electric body battery which consists of a belt (a) made out of cloth, purple velvet, and leather with three metal discs and positive and negative conductors; there are two attachments, the first (b) is a wire loop that is meant to hang from the front of the belt to loop around the genitals, the other (c) is a wire with two more of the discs on it; the belt is inside of a cardboard box with a bottom (d) and a lid (e); there is also a small instruction booklet (f).
Number Of Parts
6
Part Names
a - belt - Size: Length 107.0 cm x Width 7.3 cm x Depth 1.6 cm
b - loop - Size: Length 19.4 cm x Width 4.5 cm x Depth 0.6 cm
c - attachment - Size: Length 37.5 cm x Width 3.8 cm x Depth 0.6 cm
d - box base - Size: Length 28.4 cm x Width 10.2 cm x Depth 2.1 cm
e - box top - Size: Length 28.5 cm x Width 10.3 cm x Depth 3.6 cm
f - direction booklet - Size (unfolded): Length 17.7 cm x Width 17.7 cm
Provenance
Found in a cabinet in the donors' basement after they bought the house from John Briscoe of Briscoe's pharmacy which was located at 229 Princess Street in Kingston from 1954 to 1966; it is likely that Briscoe acquired the collection during his career as a pharmacists.
Maker
Mioxrles
Dates
1907
circa 1907
Date Remarks
A marking on the box states "New label adopted January 1, 1907".
Material
fabric: orange; beige; brown; purple
leather: brown
metal: silver
cardboard: tan, blue, red
Inscriptions
"The MIOXRLES Electric Body Battery // PATENTED 26TH OF JANUARY, 1904 // NATURE'S VITALIZER // To Build Up and Strengthen the Sexual Organs // AND FOR // Rheumatism, Paralysis, Liver, Kidneys, // Lame Back, Constipation, Stomach // and all Nervous Diseases // PRICE $20.00" printed on the box with a diagram of the male version "FOR GENTS" and the female version "FOR LADIES", and "No. 6" in the lower left corner; the belt has "P" for positive and "N" for negative on the conductors; there is lots of various product information and instructional information in the instruction booklet and inside the box base.
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-D6-4
(f) 0010-G Assorted Binder E pg 11 b
Condition Remarks
The leather is brittle; the box and paper are faded and torn.
Reference Types
Internet
Book
JPG
Reference Comments
Internet: "The Bakken Library and Museum"; Kingston City Directories; CD #2
Research Facts
This is the male version, there was also a female version available which was essentially the same only with different attachments; John Briscoe took over Bishop's Drugs Ltd in 1954; Bishop owned another store at 528 Princess Street from 1946 to 1954 and it had been a drug store under other ownership from 1923 until 1946; this is a possible origin of some of the collection.
Exhibit History
On loan to McGill University for exhibit at Osler Library L-2022-5 18 July – 28 Oct. 2022.
On exhibit, Billings Estate, 15 Jan 2009 - 31 Dec. 2009